Abstract P4-07-43: Effect of acupuncture and exercise therapy in rehabilitation of physical disfunctions in breast cancer survivors: randomized clinical trial
Authors: Patricia Santolia, Gil Facina, Cinira Haddad, Afonso Nazário, Samantha K. Lopes de Almeida Rizzi, Simone Elias
Journal: Cancer Research (2023)

Abstract Introduction: The treatment of breast cancer can trigger physical dysfunctions and psychological difficulties such as pain, depression, limitation of upper limb function and shoulder range of motion (ROM) deficits. Exercise therapy is a treatment well established in the literature for these disorders and another form of treatment is acupuncture. However, most studies using acupuncture only assess pain. Objective: To compare three distinct rehabilitation treatments (exercise therapy, acupuncture and Stiper®) in women undergoing breast cancer surgery, assessing pain, depression, upper limb function and range of motion parameters (ROM). Methods: Seventy-nine women with pain above 3 on the visual analogue pain scale (VAS) and with more than 90 days of surgery were included. They were divided into three groups that received weekly treatment for 10 weeks: group I (G1) treated with standard, pre-defined exercise therapy, based on stretching of the cervical muscles, shoulder girdle and shoulder ROM exercises with a duration of 30 minutes, group II (G2) treated with 30 minutes of acupuncture using predefined points and group III (G3) treated with the same acupuncture points as group II, however, using the Stiper ® (silicon oxide micronized quartz pellet) in place of needles. Results: Sixty-seven patients completed the treatment, being 26 from G1, 23 from G2 and 18 from G3. There was an improvement of pain over time in all groups (first session compared with the fifth (p &amp;lt; 0.001) and with the tenth (p &amp;lt; 0.001), but not between groups. There was a statistically significant difference in depressive symptoms using the Beck questionnaire over time in the three groups (between the first and tenth sessions (p = 0.001), between the first and fifth sessions (p = 0.052), but not between groups. Regarding the DASH questionnaire for shoulder function, there were significant differences overtime at all evaluated moments (p&amp;lt; 0.001), but not between groups. There was a statistically significant difference in ROM over time in the three groups, but not between groups. Conclusion: The rehabilitation of physical dysfunctions in women who survived breast cancer through exercise therapy, acupuncture and Stiper® in pain, depression, upper limb function and ROM, proved to be effective, without statistically difference between the groups, which in leads to the conclusion that acupuncture don’t showed the superiority of results when compared with exercise therapy, thus being an effective approach in the rehabilitation of these women. Citation Format: Patricia Santolia, Gil Facina, Cinira Haddad, Afonso Nazário, Samantha K. Lopes de Almeida Rizzi, Simone Elias. Effect of acupuncture and exercise therapy in rehabilitation of physical disfunctions in breast cancer survivors: randomized clinical trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-07-43.